Preston sparks Big Sky boys past Corvallis

If the Mayan calendar is correct and the world comes to an end on Friday, the Missoula Big Sky boys’ basketball team will have ended on a good note.

It was a close game for all of eight minutes, but a 26-8 second quarter lifted the Class AA Eagles to a 76-43 trouncing of visiting Class A Corvallis at the Big Sky gym on Thursday.

Leading 15-10 after the first, the Eagles used a 10-0 run to break the game open.

“I feel good, because it was teamwork that got us in that position,” first-year Big Sky head coach Bryan Ferriter said. “The guys shared the ball and they played aggressive defense. We played together, and when any team does that, they’ll always be hard to stop.”

Eagles senior forward Jesson Preston’s 3-pointer just over a minute into the second not only put Big Sky up 21-10, it energized his entire team.

“We just started playing defense and hustling up and down the court,” said Preston, who finished with a game-high 15 points to go along with five rebounds. “We all trusted each other as teammates.”

That trust has led to a 4-1 record for the Eagles, already three more wins than they had all of last season.

Big Sky has now won three consecutive games, but the 6-foot-1 Preston says there is work to be done as the team heads into its two-week break.

“It feels good after a bad performance against Butte as a team,” Preston said in reference to the Eagles’ 65-55 win over the Bulldogs on Saturday. “It was nice to play together to get the win.”

Joining Preston in double-digit scoring were senior guards RJ LaValley and Ryan Koster, who each had 10.

Big Sky forced 24 turnovers and made six 3-pointers compared to zero for Corvallis.

“There was a commitment to play on the defensive side,” Ferriter said. “That generated our offense. We’ve been working on some principles in the practice of defensive team basketball.

“I thought we executed well, and Corvallis had a hard time against that pressure. They turned the ball over, and we were able to take advantage.”

The Eagles held a 28-22 rebound advantage, led by senior Tyler Thornock’s eight.

The 6-foot-5 forward also had a block and four points, all coming on free throws.

Senior guard Jansen Jessop led the Blue Devils with 14 points and came down with three rebounds.

Corvallis dropped to 1-4, but played much better than its record in the third quarter, the team’s best period of the night.

The Blue Devils outscored Big Sky 17-14 in the third behind junior Alma Powell’s six points.

“(Corvallis’) kids, like anybody else, have pride in themselves,” Ferriter said. “They want to come out and they want to compete.

“They’re probably telling themselves, ‘We’re a (Class) A team, wouldn’t it be nice to take on a AA team?’ They threw some, so to speak, ‘punches’ at us, and we were able to take them and stay to our gameplan. We didn’t lose track of what we wanted to do.”

The Eagles responded with a 21-8 fourth quarter in which six different players scored.

Although Big Sky was cruising, the highlight of the night belonged to a Blue Devil.

Trailing 62-37 after an Eagles basket, Corvallis’ Andrew Leopold threw a football-style pass the length of the court to junior forward Chase Walker.

Without a dribble, Walker took his allotted two steps and threw down a monstrous two-handed dunk over Big Sky’s Ryan Koster.

The Eagles continued to extend their lead to the final whistle and claimed their largest margin of victory this season of 33 points.

Despite the big win, Ferriter said his team’s work is far from over.

“Now the real work begins,” he said. “There are a lot of mature programs in our conference and we’re a beginning program. I’m going to ask the guys to believe in the new system, hang tough and just go to work at practice.”

Both teams have played their final games of 2012 and will resume regular-season play on Jan. 3, when Big Sky hosts Kalispell Glacier and Corvallis visits Anaconda.

Great Falls High boys retain goat

For the 20th consectutive year, the Great Falls High Bison have retained possession of the Ole Goat.

The Goat, symbol of boys’ basketball supremacy between the Bison and the Havre Blue Ponies, was secured Thursday night by way of a 69-43 rout over the Ponies in a nonleague contest at Bill Swarthout Fieldhouse.

“It’s kind of nice to get that out of the way now,” Bison head coach Bob Howard said, noting the game was the Bison’s last until after the Christmas break.

The last time the Bison surrendered the Goat to their Northern neighbors was 1992. This year, there seemed to be little if any doubt after the Bison roared off to a 26-11 first quarter lead … and that was without their big guy, 6-6 senior Jace Andregg scoring a point.

“(I had) a little bit of a slow start, but once we got the ball moving around and got inside, I put up some points,” said Andregg, who tallied 10 points in the second stanza and finished the game with 18 points and six rebounds, both team highs.

“Jace had a nice game,” Howard confirmed. “(Dylan) Tatarka had a nice game, (LaRance) Racine, Lukas Vining, (Kolby) Sukut had a nice game off the bench. Everyone had a pretty nice game.

“We played well, played good on defense, moved the ball around, had a well-balanced offense.”

Tatarka scored 14 points and delivered several strong assists to Andregg in the second and third quarters. Vining dropped in 10 points, despite having to come out of the game in the first with a cut over his left eye.

“Couple of butterflies got that fixed up, now he’s back and ready to go,” Howard said. Vining would return to the floor in the third, and scored six of his ten in the fourth on conventional 3-point plays.

Freshman Dane Warp and junior Kade Rismon each had 13 points to pace the Blue Ponies, who are now winless in five games this season.

The Bison improved to 3-3 and will open their Eastern AA season Jan. 3 at Butte. Andregg knows the way to get that first conference win:

“We’ll have to come out strong like we usually do and just keep working hard,” Andregg said.

Meyer carries Rams

Daniel Meyer figured Billings Senior was coming after him. And the Broncs did.

But it didn’t matter.

Billings Central’s 6-foot-7 center tied a career high with 31 points and pulled down 19 rebounds Thursday night to lead the Rams to a 57-46 boys basketball win over Senior at the Nelles Center.

The senior big man did most of his damage in the first half, tallying 21 points and 14 rebounds to help Central to a 36-24 lead at intermission.

“He’s one of the best players in the state … maybe the best,” said Senior coach Jim Wilsey. “I told our kids before the game we had to surround him and do whatever it takes to slow him down. And we did that, but it didn’t matter.

“He was unstoppable. He was the difference in the game, without a doubt.”

Meyer stands four inches taller than Senior’s tallest player, so the Rams’ game plan was simple.

“We wanted to take advantage of our size and get the ball inside to me and Dylan (Hanser), and then kick it out for some open shots,” said Meyer. “Our guys did a great job of getting the ball in to us early in the game and helped us get a lead.”

Of Central’s 16 field goals, just one --- a first-half 3-pointer by Connor Cerkovnik --- came outside the paint. And nearly all of Meyer’s 10 baskets came with two or three Senior defenders on him, but he was unfazed.

“As a big man, you gotta be ready to be double- and triple-teamed,” said Meyer. “We work on that a lot in practice. Coach (Jim ) Stergar kind of lets the other guys go at me and Dylan pretty good in practice, so we’re used to it.”

Cerkovnik added 11 points for Central (3-2), and no other Ram scored more than three points. Jacob Stanton finished with three points, five rebounds and six assists.

In addition to Meyer’s monster effort, Stergar was impressed with the Rams’ defensive effort.

“Our defense, especially on the 3-point line, was the key,” he said. “We know what kind of a shooting team Senior is, and we got out there and got after them. I take my hat off to Jacob Stanton and Dylan Hanser for getting out there on Tad Rose and Skyler Scheetz … those kids are outstanding shooters and we did a great job on them.

“I thought we handled their defensive pressure pretty well, too. We took care of the ball for the most part and played under control.”

Joe Zimmer and Skyler Scheetz scored 12 points each for Senior (2-3), and Zimmer also pulled down seven rebounds.

“I loved our kids’ effort … we didn’t stop fighting until the final buzzer,” said Wilsey. “Central is an outstanding team and they play really well on their home court. We did some good things tonight that we can learn from. We need to keep working hard and keep getting better, and I know we will.”

Central faces another Class AA opponent tonight, traveling to the West High gym for a 7:30 p.m. game.

Senior hosts Bozeman at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in its final game before the holiday break.

Locomotives cruise past Hardin boys

It's the Locomotives 13th consecutive win over the Bulldogs, dating back to a 77-60 loss in the 2007 Eastern A Divisional Challenge game.

"Laurel did an outstanding job on defense tonight," said Hardin coach Jonathan Stands. "They started strong in the first quarter and just continued with a consistent effort all game."

Laurel led 34-14 at halftime and outscored the Bulldogs 34-13 in the second half. Evan Jones and Taylor Maida each added eight points in the win as Laurel improved to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the Eastern A.

Milo Paz knocked down a pair of 3's on his way to eight points to pace the Bulldogs (0-6, 0-3).

Maroon boys turn back Panthers

Butte Central scored the first 10 points of the game, and the lead stood in a 51-41 non-conference boys’ basketball win over Belgrade tonight at the Maroon Activities Center.

The win was the third straight for the Maroons, who head into the Christmas break at 4-2 overall and 2-1 in Southwestern A play. BC is off until Jan. 3 when they play host to Dillon in a conference game.